SIENA RESEARCH INSTITUTE SIENA COLLEGE, LOUDONVILLE, NY www.siena.edu/scri For Immediate Release: Monday, March 18, 2019 Contact: Steven Greenberg, 518-469-9858 Website/Twitter: www.siena.edu/scri/sny @SienaResearch Siena College Poll: 2/3 of Voters Say Amazon Cancelling Queens HQ Bad for NY; 2-to-1 Support for Deal if Amazon Reconsiders Huge Support: Requiring Parents to Have Children Vaccinated; Strong Support: Property Tax Cap; Support: Eliminating Monetary Bail & Legalizing Pot; Strong Opposition: Driver s Licenses for Undocumented Immigrants Cuomo & Legislature Favorability Up a Little; NYS Under Democratic Control: Getting Harder for Businesses, Moving Too Far Left & Upstate Being Ignored Loudonville, NY. By a 67-21 percent margin, New Yorkers say that Amazon cancelling its planned second headquarters in Queens was bad for New York. By as nearly as large a margin, 61-30 percent, they support the deal in which Amazon would receive up to $3 billion in state and city incentives and create up to 25,000 jobs if Amazon reconsiders, according to a new Siena College poll of New York State registered voters released today. An overwhelming 79 percent of voters say parents should be required to have their children vaccinated before attending school, regardless of the parents religious beliefs. Voters continue to support making the two-percent property tax cap permanent, legalizing recreational use of marijuana, and eliminating monetary bail for misdemeanors and non-violent felonies. They are split on congestion pricing, and by a nearly two-to-one margin, they oppose allowing undocumented immigrants to get a New York driver s license. At least 63 percent of Democrats, Republicans and independents, upstaters and downstaters, men and women, young and old, black and white New Yorkers agree: Amazon pulling out of Queens was bad for New York. Even 56 percent of self-described liberals think it was bad for New York, said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg. While some may have celebrated Amazon s announcement to pull the plug, the vast majority of New Yorkers of every stripe thought it was bad for the Empire State. Who do New Yorkers blame? Well, there s certainly blame enough to go around. More people think that Amazon, Governor Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio, the State Senate, and local Queens activists were villains in this saga than they were heroes. However, voters say the biggest villain was Representative Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez. Only 12 percent call her hero, while 38 percent label her a villain, Greenberg said. Amazon itself was seen as the biggest villain among Democrats, but Republicans and independents had Ocasio-Cortez as far and away the largest villain, followed by the local Queens activists. more
Siena College Poll March 18, 2019 Page 2 By a wide margin, New Yorkers would support the deal coming back together if Cuomo and others can convince Amazon to reconsider, Greenberg said. The Amazon deal was seen as very contentious, however, there was strong support for it last month, before it got cancelled. There is an overwhelming feeling that its cancellation was bad for the state. And there is strong support among all demographic groups for Amazon to reconsider and move forward. Clearly, jobs outweigh the cost of government incentives in the minds of most voters. Thumbs Up: Vaccinations, Property Tax Cap, Pot, Bail; Thumbs Down: Licenses for Undocumenteds Four out of five voters say that parents regardless of their religious beliefs should be required to have their children vaccinated for measles and other diseases before they can attend school. The weakest support is among independents, who support it 70-28 percent, Greenberg said. Making permanent the property tax cap has strong support from every party and every region, Greenberg said. Eliminating monetary bail and legalizing recreational marijuana are both strongly supported by Democrats, opposed by Republicans and receive tepid independent support. Congestion pricing, which was strongly supported in January, is now break-even. Support or Oppose Proposed New Laws Total Dem Rep Ind Requiring parents to have Support 79% 86% 76% 70% their children vaccinated for certain diseases Oppose 18% 12% 20% 28% Making NY s two percent Support 59% 58% 60% 60% property tax cap permanent Oppose 25% 22% 29% 26% Legalizing the recreational Support 53% 64% 36% 50% use of marijuana Oppose 43% 34% 61% 44% Eliminating monetary bail for Support 53% 63% 39% 49% people facing misdemeanor & non-violent felony charges Oppose 39% 30% 52% 43% Instituting congestion pricing Support 43% 47% 31% 48% for parts of Manhattan to fund the MTA Oppose 42% 42% 50% 35% Allowing undocumented Support 34% 49% 15% 25% immigrants to get a NY driver s license Oppose 61% 45% 84% 71% Siena College Poll March 18, 2019 Overwhelmingly, Republicans and independents, upstaters and downstate suburbanites oppose allowing undocumented immigrants to get driver s licenses. Democrats and New York City voters are closely divided on the issue, Greenberg said. White voters strongly oppose; black and Latino voters support it by small margins. Cuomo, Legislature, Schumer All See Favorability Bounce Up a Little from Last Month Cuomo has a negative 46-48 percent favorability rating, up a little from negative 43-50 percent in February. The Assembly has a 44-35 percent favorability rating, up a little from 43-38 percent last month. The Senate is 46-38 percent, up a little from 43-41 percent. Senator Chuck Schumer is 51-41 percent, up from 47-46 percent. more Favorability Ratings Fav Unfav DK/NO Net Chuck Schumer 51% 41% 8% +10 Kirsten Gillibrand 43% 33% 23% +10 NYS Assembly 44% 35% 21% +9 NYS Senate 46% 38% 16% +8 Andrea Stewart-Cousins 14% 13% 73% +1 Carl Heastie 13% 12% 76% +1 Andrew Cuomo 46% 48% 6% -2 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 31% 44% 26% -13 Bill de Blasio 34% 50% 16% -16 Donald Trump 36% 60% 5% -24 Siena College Poll March 18, 2019
Siena College Poll March 18, 2019 Page 3 Cuomo saw his favorability rating tick up to near break-even, up from the lowest favorability rating he ever had. His job performance rating, negative 38-61 percent, also moved up a little, although it remains significantly below water, Greenberg said. Both houses of the Legislature also saw small jumps in their favorability ratings and both are in positive territory by high single digits. Schumer s favorability rating moved back into positive territory after being break-even last month. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand s favorability rating is unchanged from last month, and nearly one-quarter of voters do not know enough about her despite her presidential campaign to have an opinion, Greenberg said. Ocasio- Cortez, with a negative 31-44 percent favorability rating, is as well known to statewide voters after three months in office as Gillibrand is after ten years as senator. While Democrats view Ocasio-Cortez favorably, independents view her unfavorably more than two-to-one and Republicans view her unfavorably, 68-6 percent. She is viewed slightly favorably in New York City but strongly unfavorably upstate and in the downstate suburbs. Dems in Control: Moving Too Far to the Left; Making it Harder for Businesses; Ignoring Upstate With NYS Govt. Controlled by the Democrats: Agree/Disagree Total Dem Rep Ind It s getting harder for businesses to Agree 67% 53% 87% 79% be successful in New York Disagree 26% 40% 10% 16% New York State is moving too far to Agree 51% 33% 82% 61% the political left Disagree 36% 53% 12% 29% The interests of upstate New York Agree 51% 37% 77% 59% are being ignored in Albany Disagree 28% 37% 10% 24% New York City and the downstate Agree 45% 29% 69% 56% suburbs now have too much power Disagree 44% 60% 24% 32% After 3 months of Dem. control, NY Agree 42% 64% 15% 26% is heading in the right direction Disagree 48% 26% 79% 65% Government worked better when Agree 32% 16% 66% 35% Reps. controlled the State Senate Disagree 54% 74% 19% 46% Siena College Poll March 18, 2019 While Democrats disagree, a strong majority of independents and an overwhelming majority of Republicans say that Democratic control of the Governor s mansion and both houses of the Legislature are moving the state too far to the left, Greenberg said. Twothirds of voters including a majority of Democrats say that Democratic control of the state makes it harder for businesses to be successful. While voters are evenly divided on whether downstate has too much power, by 51-28 percent voters say the interests of upstate are being ignored. Not surprisingly, nearly three-quarters of upstaters believe this, but New York City voters are closely divided, Greenberg said. That said, a clear majority, 54-32 percent, disagree with the view that state government worked better when Republicans controlled the State Senate. # # # This Siena College Poll was conducted March 10-14, 2019 by telephone calls conducted in English to 700 New York State registered voters. Respondent sampling was initiated by asking for the youngest male in the household. It has an overall margin of error of + 4.2 percentage points including the design effects resulting from weighting. Sampling was conducted via a stratified dual frame probability sample of landline and cell phone telephone numbers (both from Survey Sampling International) from within New York State. Data was statistically adjusted by age, party by region, and gender to ensure representativeness. The Siena College Research Institute, directed by Donald Levy, Ph.D., conducts political, economic, social and cultural research primarily in NYS. SCRI, an independent, non-partisan research institute, subscribes to the American Association of Public Opinion Research Code of Professional Ethics and Practices. For more information, call Steve Greenberg at (518) 469-9858. For survey cross-tabs: www.siena.edu/scri/sny.
SIENA COLLEGE RESEARCH INSTITUTE SIENA COLLEGE, LOUDONVILLE, NY www.siena.edu/scri Siena College Poll Trends March 2019 Q. 1 Is New York State on the right track, or is it headed in the wrong direction? DATE RIGHT TRACK WRONG DIRECTION DON T KNOW/NO OPINION March 2019 43 46 11 February 2019 44 45 11 January 2019 49 40 11 November 2018* 40 47 13 October 2018* 42 44 14 June 2018* 45 41 14 April 2018 44 44 12 HIGHEST EVER 57 (1/13) 76 (10/31/10) 30 (1/07) LOWEST EVER 14 (10/10) 26 (1/07) 7 (2/17, 5/13) Q. 2 Is the United States on the right track, or is it headed in the wrong direction? DATE RIGHT TRACK WRONG DIRECTION DON T KNOW/NO OPINION March 2019 34 57 9 February 2019 35 57 8 January 2019 32 62 6 November 2018* 39 56 5 October 2018* 38 56 7 June 2018* 39 54 7 April 2018 30 63 6 HIGHEST EVER 62 (5/09) 74 (10/13, 8/11) 17 (9/08) LOWEST EVER 19 (10/13, 10/08) 24 (12/09) 5 (1/13) Q. 3 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion about Andrew Cuomo? March 2019 46 48 6 February 2019 43 50 7 January 2019 51 43 6 November 2018* 45 49 5 October 2018* 50 46 4 June 2018* 51 44 5 April 2018 49 44 6 HIGHEST EVER 77 (2/11) 50 (2/19) 24 (1/06, 2/06, 9/07) LOWEST EVER 43 (2/19) 14 (8/09) 3 (10/16, 10/20/10) Q. 4 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion about the New York State Assembly? March 2019 44 35 21 February 2019 43 38 18 January 2019 48 32 20 June 2018* 40 43 17 April 2018 41 41 18 HIGHEST EVER 48 (1/19) 61 (7/10) 21 (3/19, 2/18, 5/17) LOWEST EVER 25 (7/10) 32 (1/19) 10 (5/15) Q. 5 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion about the New York State Senate? March 2019 46 38 16 February 2019 43 41 17 January 2019 49 38 13 June 2018* 41 45 14 April 2018 41 45 15 HIGHEST EVER 50 (2/17) 74 (7/09) 17 (2/19, 1/18, 5/17, 3/17) LOWEST EVER 20 (7/09) 35 (5/17) 6 (7/09)
Siena College Poll Trends March 2019 Page 2 Q. 6 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion about Carl Heastie? March 2019 13 12 76 February 2019 13 14 73 January 2019 14 15 71 April 2018 10 12 77 HIGHEST EVER 14 (1/19) 20 (10/15) 78 (1/17, 9/15) LOWEST EVER 8 (9/15) 11 (1/18) 69 (4/15) Q. 7 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion about Andrea Stewart-Cousins? March 2019 14 13 73 February 2019 17 11 72 January 2019 20 12 69 April 2018 12 9 79 HIGHEST EVER 20 (1/19) 13 (3/19) 79 (4/18) LOWEST EVER 12 (4/18) 9 (4/18) 69 (1/19) Q. 8 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion about Donald Trump? March 2019 36 60 5 February 2019 35 59 6 January 2019 32 64 4 November 2018* 39 58 3 October 2018* 37 59 4 June 2018* 38 59 3 April 2018 31 65 4 HIGHEST EVER 41 (12/16) 72 (8/16) 10 (10/13) LOWEST EVER 24 (8/16) 53 (12/16) 2 (9/15) Q. 9 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion about Chuck Schumer? March 2019 51 41 8 February 2019 47 46 7 January 2019 53 39 8 June 2018* 56 37 6 April 2018 53 38 10 HIGHEST EVER 70 (7/05) 46 (2/19) 17 (2/05) LOWEST EVER 47 (2/19) 20 (2/05, 11/06) 4 (10/31/10) Q. 10 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion about Kirsten Gillibrand? March 2019 43 33 23 February 2019 44 34 21 January 2019 48 31 21 November 2018* 46 34 20 October 2018* 49 33 19 June 2018* 53 28 19 April 2018 48 29 23 HIGHEST EVER 61 (12/12) 34 (2/19, 11/18, 10/31/10) 56 (1/09) LOWEST EVER 26 (3/09) 14 (1/09) 14 (10/31/10) Q. 11 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion about Bill de Blasio? March 2019 34 50 16 January 2019 38 46 16 January 2018 44 37 19 HIGHEST EVER 44 (1/18) 50 (3/19) 32 (11/13) LOWEST EVER 32 (7/17) 27 (11/13) 15 (2/16)
Siena College Poll Trends March 2019 Page 3 Q. 13 How would you rate the job that Andrew Cuomo is doing as Governor? Would you rate it excellent, good, fair, or poor? DATE EXCELLENT GOOD FAIR POOR DON T KNOW/NO OPINION March 2019 7 31 32 29 1 February 2019 8 27 33 31 2 January 2019 9 34 31 25 1 June 2018* 7 33 34 25 1 April 2018 7 34 33 24 1 HIGHEST EVER 17 (1/12) 47 (4/12, etc.) 40 (6/16, 7/15, 12/14) 31 (2/19) 28 (1/11) LOWEST EVER 5 (9/16) 27 (2/19) 24 (1/11) 4 (2/11, 1/11) 0 (2/16, 5/15, 10/14) Q. 14 How would you rate the job that Donald Trump is doing as President? Would you rate it excellent, good, fair, or poor? DATE EXCELLENT GOOD FAIR POOR DON T KNOW/NO OPINION March 2019 14 17 19 49 2 February 2019 14 19 16 50 1 June 2018* 19 17 12 51 1 April 2018 14 13 17 54 1 HIGHEST EVER 19 (6/18) 19 (2/19, 7/17) 20 (2/17) 63 (10/17) 3 (4/17) LOWEST EVER 8 (10/17, 9/17) 13 (4/18) 12 (6/18) 48 (2/17) 0 (10/17) Q. 21 Do you support or oppose legalizing the recreational use of marijuana? March 2019 53 43 4 February 2019 52 42 7 January 2019 56 41 3 April 2018 52 44 4 HIGHEST EVER 56 (1/19, 2/18) 44 (4/18) 7 (2/19) LOWEST EVER 52 (2/19, 4/18) 40 (2/18) 3 (1/19) Q. 22 Do you support or oppose eliminating monetary bail for people facing misdemeanor and non-violent felony charges? March 2019 53 39 8 January 2019 59 32 9 April 2018 56 35 9 HIGHEST EVER 59 (1/19) 39 (3/19) 10 (2/18) LOWEST EVER 53 (3/19) 32 (1/19) 8 (3/19) Q. 23 Do you support or oppose instituting congestion pricing for parts of Manhattan to help fund the MTA, which operates New York City Subways, downstate suburban railroads and many downstate bridges and tunnels? March 2019 43 42 15 January 2019 52 39 10 HIGHEST EVER 52 (1/19) 42 (3/19) 15 (3/19) LOWEST EVER 43 (3/19) 39 (1/19) 10 (1/19) Q. 26 Do you support or oppose making New York s two percent property tax cap permanent? March 2019 59 25 16 January 2019 65 21 14 HIGHEST EVER 65 (1/19) 25 (3/19) 16 (3/19) LOWEST EVER 59 (3/19) 21 (1/19) 14 (1/19) Poll Trend Notes: * All surveys are of registered voters except for the following polls: June thru November 2018, November 2017, September thru November 2016, July thru October 2014, August/October 2012, October 2010, September/October 2008, and September/October 2006, which are polls of likely voters. Trends reflect questions asked at least twice since the first Siena College Poll in February 2005. Results listed here include all times questions have been asked since April 2018. Highest Ever and Lowest Ever are provided at the bottom of each question. Inconsequential wording change.
90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 77% 16% Andrew Cuomo Favorability 2011-2019 48% 46% Favorable Unfavorable Don't know Siena College Polls 2011-2019